


breaking the surface

by clawsnbeak



Series: Pynch Prompt Collection [7]
Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Adam Parrish Loves Ronan Lynch, Cuddling & Snuggling, First Kiss, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Happy Ending, Hypothermia, M/M, Ronan Lynch Loves Adam Parrish, Yearning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:40:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21903874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clawsnbeak/pseuds/clawsnbeak
Summary: "Adam thought he could hear distant shouting, his name, over and over again, but the water distorted the sound. He should have felt scared, with death close enough to greet, but he felt oddly calm, the water swaying him away to a more peaceful place.His eyes closed just as two arms wrapped around his body."Adam Parrish never learned how to swim and when his body breaks the surface of the ice-cold water of Cabeswater's lake, he thinks this is the end for him.
Relationships: Ronan Lynch/Adam Parrish
Series: Pynch Prompt Collection [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1417012
Comments: 13
Kudos: 312





	breaking the surface

**Author's Note:**

> requested by anon on tumblr
> 
> (Leaving kudos and comments always makes me very happy!)

Adam Parrish couldn’t swim. His parents never taught him and he never bothered to teach himself. He didn’t have time to go swimming for fun anyway so it didn’t feel like a necessity to learn yet. Adam Parrish didn’t do things if they weren’t necessary.

That was his first regret when his body broke the surface of the ice-cold water that laid in Cabeswater. His second regret was never telling Ronan how he felt. His third regret was not eating that one pizza slice Gansey had offered him because it didn’t matter now anyway. He was sinking and there was nothing he could do.

His limbs were moving sluggishly through the water, his body weighed down by the clothes he wore. He tried to pull himself up as best as he could because giving up was not something he did. And yet, determined as he was, and always had been, he strayed further from the light of the sun shining down on the lake he had fallen in. He wasn’t sure if it was getting darker because he nearly reached the bottom or because he was losing consciousness. 

Adam thought he could hear distant shouting, his name, over and over again, but the water distorted the sound. He should have felt scared, with death close enough to greet, but he felt oddly calm, the water swaying him away to a more peaceful place.

His eyes closed just as two arms wrapped around his body.

He woke to grass beneath his fingertips and his lungs filled with water.

“Parrish.”

Adam couldn’t open his eyes.

“Parrish, _come on_!” 

Two hands were pressing on his chest. Another set of hands were closing his nose and opening his mouth.

He felt soft lips on his own, blowing air into his body.

“Adam!”

Water lurched out of him, nearly choking him in the process. He coughed until his throat was raw and he couldn’t see anything through the tears blurring his eyes. 

There was a small hand pounding between his shoulder blades with just the right amount of force. 

With shaking hands, Adam wiped the tears away, looking right into the worried faces of his friends surrounding him. Blue was next to him, tears rolling down her cheeks, Gansey was crouched down in front of him with a deep frown etched into his forehead, his hands nervously picking at each other.

Ronan was standing a bit further away but his skin was paler than usual, his chest heaving, his clothes drenched, hanging off his form limply. He was chewing his leather bracelets, a nervous habit he would probably never unlearn. 

Adam wondered who had given him mouth to mouth. 

“You scared us,” Gansey said unnecessarily. Adam touched his shoulder briefly to let him know that he was okay, he was too afraid his voice would betray him. 

Gansey didn’t look convinced but he knew better than to argue with Adam. He just pulled him into a one-sided hug Adam returned and stood up.

“We need to get him somewhere warm,” Gansey said, his president voice on. “He’s shaking.”

“He nearly drowned himself in a lake, no shit he’s shaking,” Ronan finally spoke up. Adam didn’t know whether his heartbeat spiked from Ronan moving closer to him and crouching in front of him until they were eye-level or from almost dying. Ronan reached for the leather jacket that he had probably thrown somewhere before jumping after Adam and wrapped it around his shaking body. It smelled like Ronan, all leather and expensive perfume. Adam burrowed himself in it, seeking the more of the warmth it provided.

“I’ll take him to the Barns.”

Gansey started to protest but Blue shot him a glance Adam could feel even though it wasn’t directed at him.

“Are you sure?” Gansey asked, still unsure. Normally, Adam would have hated this, the overbearing behaviour, but now, confused and shivering from the cold that had settled in his bones, he felt a surge of love for his friend.

“The Barns sounds good,” Adam said, barely getting the word over his lips. He couldn’t feel them but he somehow managed to give sound to the words he was trying to utter and his friends were finally looking at him instead of each other.

Blue rubbed his back, Gansey bit his lip, and Ronan stretched out his hands. Adam took them. 

Adam could feel his legs give out under him, the ground suddenly closing in on him. Two arms wrapped around him in a way that felt oddly familiar.

One arm remained around his middle while the other lifted his legs carefully. Suddenly he was buried against Ronan’s wet chest. Adam hoped the warmth that spread under the skin of his cheeks wasn’t starting to show.

Gansey and Blue trailed after them, Adam could feel their eyes on him.

“Should we take him to a hospital?” Blue asked quietly, Adam had to strain his ears to hear her.

“No hospital,” the other three said in unison. Gansey defeatedly, Ronan begrudgingly, Adam resolutely. They all had the same arguments before, they all knew the answer before the question was being asked.

“If it gets worse,” Gansey started but Ronan cut him off.

“Then I’ll force him.”

Adam was too weak to protest. The only thing he could focus on was the numbness in his fingers, the urging need to feel warmth seep through his skin.

They had learned about hypothermia in biology last year. From what he could tell his symptoms looked like a mild case but it would get worse if it wasn’t treated quickly. 

Adam didn’t have time to deal with hypothermia, though. He had work in less than three hours and Latin homework that had to finished before tomorrow. Missing a shift or even one assignment left unfinished would have catastrophic consequences for him, for his future. But he couldn’t tell his friends that he was fine, there was no point in lying. 

He didn’t have the energy to protest when he was lifted in the passenger seat of Ronan’s BMW. Especially not when he put the heater on full force and Adam couldn’t stop himself from relishing in the warmth. He stuck his shaking hands out to the heater and tried to ignore how Ronan’s gaze landed on them for a few seconds before driving off.

Adam must have missed what had transpired between the other members of his group because Gansey and Blue weren’t with them anymore. 

Ronan noticed him looking to the backseat in the rearview mirror. “They took the Pig.”

Adam nodded and leaned his head back. He could feel Ronan’s worried glances every view seconds. He never put his foot off the gas pedal. They made it to the Barns in record time.

The car door opened on his side and Adam stumbled out, not waiting for Ronan to carry him again. He could walk himself and he managed, fuelled by his potent sense of pride. Ronan was still following him close by, though, his hand not quite touching his lower back, waiting for him to fall.

They made it through the door with a lot of stumbling on Adam’s part and grumbling on Ronan’s part. Adam was parked on the couch immediately, Ronan not quite running upstairs to fetch whatever would keep Adam warm.

His heart swelled a little at the concern Ronan showed. He buried himself further into the couch and closed his eyes, trusting Ronan to take care of him like he never trusted anyone before.

-

Ronan didn’t lie, but he was a master at keeping secrets and Adam used to be one of them. But that was before Adam’s eyes turned glassy and walked to the edge of the lake, staring into the water with a far off look Ronan recognised as scrying. It was before Adam took one step too far and tumbled into the lake headfirst. It was before he waited one second, two seconds, three seconds and realised Adam wasn’t coming up. It was before he threw off his leather jacket and jumped in after him, wrapping his arms around Adam’s limp body, dragging him to the grassy field and blew air into his mouth, his stomach turning in desperation. It was before coughed up water, finally opening his eyes, and Ronan realised he could have lost him. 

He came back with every blanket he could find in his little house, his steps faltering when he found Adam on the couch, his mouth half-open, his eyes closed. It shouldn’t scare him this much to see Adam unconscious, he was probably asleep, but he couldn’t help himself from feeling Adam’s neck for a pulse and sighing in relief when he felt a steady heartbeat.

Ronan gathered the blankets and tucked Adam in, careful not to wake him. He then opted for making soup, an old recipe Aurora used to make when Ronan had the flu. He had to do something or he would go insane. The lifeless body of Adam still burned behind his eyes. 

He took out his phone and sent off a quick message to Gansey, telling him Adam was alright and then called Boyd’s. There was no way Adam could work tonight.

Ronan was almost done with the soup when he saw Adam stir from the corner of his eyes. He poured the soup into a bowl and brought it to Adam. He ate it without protest.

Adam’s skin was whiter than usual, his freckles standing out more prominently. Ronan resisted the urge to trail them with his fingers.

“Thank you,” Adam said, his voice gravelly. Ronan didn’t know it was because of sleep or because of the water filling his lungs not an hour ago. He didn’t want to think about it. Adam was here, next to him and he was okay.

Ronan shrugged, trying to regain some of his dignity. “It’s just soup, Parrish.”

Adam chuckled, he sounded exhausted. “I meant for saving me.”

Ronan wasn’t sure what to say to that. He wanted to say that of course he would save Adam, he would put his own life on the line if that meant Adam could keep his eyes open for just another day. That he would jump after him any time in any given situation. That he couldn’t lose Adam, not him too. That it would kill him if Adam wasn’t there to call him a shitbag and smile at him, breaking every wall that he had put up. He wanted to say that nobody made him feel the way Adam did and that he would risk anything to keep that, to keep him as close as he would let him.

Ronan stayed quiet, Adam looked like he understood anyways.

Adam turned the tv on, filling the loaded silence with quirky voices Ronan didn’t even pretend to pay attention to.

Adam's hand was facing upwards, resting on the mountain of blankets around his body. Ronan contemplated holding it, feeling Adam’s fingers between his own, just as a reminder that he was alive, that he was still here next to Ronan.

He didn’t take Adam’s hand.

He asked himself why. Adam presented him with a chance and he didn’t take it because why? Because he was scared? He had been more scared of Adam forever vanishing in the depths of the lake. He had to make a choice. Take the risk or forever live with the consequence of not having just a second of courage.

He bumped his hand against Adam’s.

Adam turned to look at him, their hands still touching. Adam’s skin was getting warmer already. His hand was rough and calloused. Ronan’s heart was racing when he turned his own head. Adam’s eyes were soft and kind, nothing like the hardened version he usually wore. Ronan had seen those hardened eyes in his dreams more often than he liked to admit, telling him that he didn’t have a chance. Adam was dangerous sometimes, wrapped in barbed wire to protect himself from anyone who tried to get closer to him. But now, on the couch of the Barns, their bodies almost touching, the soft glow of the tv lighting their faces, he was letting his defences fall, urging Ronan to get closer.

Ronan slowly raised his hand, his eyes never moving away from Adam’s. He tangled their fingers together and Adam smiled, a little crookedly. Ronan brought his other hand up, gently trailing Adam’s bottom lip with his thumb. Adam leaned into it, his breath hitting Ronan’s hand. 

“Can I?” Ronan asked, his voice a whisper.

Adam didn’t answer. Instead, he moved closer, tilting his head, his eyes closing.

Their first kiss was slow and careful. Soft pecks and lips barely moving against each other, too afraid to push further.

Their second kiss was languid, the feeling of the other’s lips too important to not fully take in. It was light touches, a hand trailing up the other’s side.

Their third kiss was deep and passionate. Hands clenched into shirts, Ronan’s hand in Adam’s hair, brushing through the locks like he had wanted to do ever since he saw him walking up the road leading to Aglionby. It was exploring each other’s mouths with their tongues. It was reaffirmation, Adam telling him he was still here and Ronan replying that he was not going anywhere.

Later, when they were both wrapped up in blankets, Adam’s head on Ronan’s chest, Ronan’s arms around him, Ronan finally let some tears fall. For what could have happened, for what he could have lost, for the relief he felt when Adam kissed his collarbone and told him to sleep.

The nightmares that plagued him this night would continue to plague him during many more but he woke with Adam in his arms, snoring softly in his ear and realised they would get through this. Together.

**Author's Note:**

> You can also find me on [tumblr](clawsnbeak.tumblr.com)


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